SAPTK is headed by Varro Vooglaid, an EKRE MP, and Markus Järvi, who ran unsuccessfully for the same party at the last Riigikogu elections (pictured).

The Political Parties Financing Surveillance Committee (ERJK), finds that SAPTK made a prohibited donation to Vooglaid and Järvi in conducting a campaign on the grounds that the pair, as SAPTK leaders, had given their signatures to the appeal contained in the campaign materials.

This call to action claimed that if the Reform Party, the Social Democrats (SDE) and Eesti 200 were to enter office after the March 2023 election – which indeed they did – then the definition of marriage would likely be reestablished in Estonia via the amendment of existing legislation.

This coalition would also curb freedom of speech by criminalizing so-called hate speech, the campaign literature claimed.

This was sufficient to transform the SAPTK campaign materials into an election advertisement for both Vooglaid and Järvi, both running for EKRE, the ERJK found.

In their appeal, the founders and leaders of SAPTK stated that the above assessment is deeply arbitrary.

The SAPTK leaflets were intended to protect ideals in line with the organization's goals, and did not represent campaigning for their, or anyone else's, election bids, Vooglaid and Järvi added.

For its part, the ERJK reasoned that Vooglaid and Järvi had been able to reap hidden benefits from the SAPTK campaign, on the grounds that "any impact on the election results is not excluded by the fact that the flyers were distributed in electoral districts where you personally were not running for office", since "the benefit achieved from these materials can also relate to your position on the party's general list," referring to the ordered lists under Estonia's proportional representation system.

ERJK chief Liisa Oviir (SDE) had previously told ERR that the committee received several reports in the aftermath of the Riigikogu elections last year which said that SAPTK had conducted a direct mail campaign in various regions, distributing flyers pointed towards the Riigikogu elections, in which members of the public were urged not to vote for certain political parties as stated in the material.

Oviir said that SAPTK is a legal entity which had advertised on behalf of two candidates – Vooglad and Järvi – who could thus benefit from this advertising on election day.

The appeal as submitted to the court also included a request from Vooglaid and Järvi for preliminary legal protection from the court, to avoid coming into force an ERJK order which would require them to pay nearly €5,500 each to SAPTK.

This sum would represent the alleged illegal donation.

the alleged prohibited donation to SAPTK, would not be enforced before the end of the litigation.

On the same day as the appeal was filed, the first-tier administrative court satisfied the request for preliminary legal protection, while a day later the entire appeal was taken into proceedings – in other words, Vooglaid and Järvi are not liable for the above sum before the end of the litigation.

The ERJK can appeal within a 30-day period.

--

Follow ERR News on Facebook and Twitter and never miss an update!